Westgate Road in Newcastle, locally known as "The Hill", is the epicentre of the biking community in Geordie-land.

Most of the bike shops in the town are to be found on the Hill (with the exception of Kawasaki Newcastle, who moved to Scotswood Road - Splitters!).

The area seems to have survived attempts to move Newcastle upmarket, which is remarkable given the number of great Newcastle places that fell before gentrification (The Handyside Arcade, The Farmers, The Broken Doll and The Mayfair , to name a few).

The police have been more successful in damping down the Hill, appearances by wheelie kings (and wannabes) and no-helmet riders being less frequent that they used to be. However there still seems to be reasonable tolerance to loud cans, small plates and black visors and I’ve certainly seen more hot hatches pulled over than I have bikes.

City planning and the police aside there is still nothing to match the buzz on the Hill on a sunny Saturday. Bikers congregate there, on bikes of all makes, models and vintages, to pose, look, stroll, window shop, chat and eat (two top quality greasy cafes on the Hill).

The shops there offer a reasonable selection of kit, but they do tend to operate a cartel, so bargains aren’t that plentiful , although a discount can often be negotiated. The best bet for bargains seems to be Hunters, who are also nice blokes and know what they’re talking about.

Once you’ve finished for the day park the bike up somewhere secure and return to town for a quiet evening pint in The Percy Arms on Percy Street. If you’re meeting others there don’t say “I’ll be the one in black bike jacket” :-)

The Multimap reference is here